Signal-transmitter.



c. MILLER.

SIGNAL TRANSMITTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 29. 1914.

1 1 60, 1 88. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Witneooeo ampe'ntoz MMMM coLulBlA PLANOOIAIH CO WASHINGTOM D. c.

STATES aran r CHRISTIAN MILLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO EDWARDS& 00., A.

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

. SIGNAL-TRANSMITTER.

Application filed. May 29, 1914.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Bronx and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SignalTransmitters, of which the following is afull, clear, andeXact descrip-'tion.

This invention relates to signal transmitters and more specifically todevices for preventing any further actuation of a signal transmitterafter it has once been actuated and until the proper signal has beensent. Devices of this character are more commonly used with electricfire alarm or district messenger boxes to which the pres- 'ent inventionhas special application. These boxes are generally equipped with arotary pull lever or crank which, when actuated,

' will set the signal train into operation to transmit to' thecentralstation a predetermined code signal and are'provided with some form ofdevice for rendering thepull lever ineffective to operate the signaltrain by a' further actuation of the same after it has once beenactuated, and until the signal has been completely transmitted.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved means forinsuring this non-interference which means is of a simple and cheapconstruction and comprises few parts and with these and other objects inview,-my invention consistsof a signal train in combination with a pawlor dog which is connected to rotate with the pull lever or crank and arotary member con nected to the signal train with which said dog isadapted to co-act when the parts are in their normal position so thatthe actuation of the lever or crank will temporarily displace saidmember to store up energy in the signal train to transmit the signal,which ;.3 member due to its connection with the signal train, graduallyresumes its normal position during the transmission of the signal,together with means for continually urging said dog out of the path ofsaid rotary member, and othermeans for throwing said dog into the path.of said member when thespecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Serial No. 841,761.

pull lever is in its normal position, so that if it is displaced and therotary member is in substantially-its normal position, the dog willengage with and be held in co-acting relationship with said member toactuate the same upon the further displacement of the pull lever, but ifthe rotary member has not resumed substantially its normal positionafter it has been displaced, the dog will be thrown out of the path ofsaid member before it engages the member and further displacement of thepull lever will be ineffective to actuate the'signal train.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 shows my invention in frontelevation in combination with the signal train of a fire alarm box, thecasing or box being omitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 2 is a sideview of the mechanism disclosed in Fig.1, Fig. 3 is a similar view ofFig. 1, the parts being shown in the position they assume during thetransmission of the signal; and Fig. 4: is a rear elevation showing thesignal wheel.

Two spaced plates 1 and 2, respectively, which are secured together bybolts and over which are placed spacing sleeves 3, constitute thesupporting structure for the entire mechanism, the plate 1 beingprovided with lugs having apertures therein by which the same may besecured within a suitable casing such as are now used with alarm boxesof this character. Secured to the rear face of the rear plate 2 are thespring contacts 4., to the terminals of which the wires, which lead tothe central station, are adapted to be secured. The bent extension ofone of these contacts is adapted to engage a signal wheel 5 mounted on atransverse shaft 6 which is suitably supported in the plates 1 and 2.This signal wheel is provided with the desired number of spaced teeth sothat upon a complete rotation of the same the circuit controlled by thespring. contacts will be opened and closed at determined intervals totransmit the desiredcode signal and in the form of signal wheel shownthe specific are rangement of the teeth is such that the signal 26 willbe transmitted. The signal wheel is driven through a spring actuatedsignal train comprising a pinion 7 mounted on a shaft 6 which mesheswith a larger gear wheel 8 loosely mounted on a shaft 9. A spring 10anchored at one end to one of the spacing sleeves is secured at itsouter end to the shaft 9. Rigidly secured to the shaft 9 is a ratchetwheel 11 which is engaged by a spring pressed pawl 12 carried by thegear wheel 8 This pawl and ratchetconneotion permits independentrotation of the shaft 9 to wind up the spring, which is accomplished ina manner hereinafter referred to, but during the unwinding of the springforcesthe gear wheel 8 to rotate with the shaft 9 to actuate the signalwheel through the pinion 7 as has been described. The

speed of the rotation of the signal wheel is controlled by any of theusual forms of escapements and in the construction shown consists of agear wheel '13 mountedon the shaft 9 which meshes with apinion 14carried on a shaft which has rigidly secured to U it the escape wheel 15with which a pallet 16 engages. The period of vibration of'the pal letis controlled by the eccentrically mounted disk17, as is common. j

Secured to the front plate 1 is a stud 18 upon which is loosely mounteda sleeve 19 having extending from its inner end a radially disposed flatarm 20. The outer end of the sleeve is reduced in diameter and thesocket of a pull lever 22 fits there'over and is fastened to it by a pin23, which pull lever is provided at its upper end with a curved portionor hook 24 which is adapted to be engaged by the finger of the persondesiring to actuate the device. Loosely mounted on the sleeve and lyingfiat against the upright arm 20, is a segment gear 24, thetoothedportion of which is adapted to engage with a pinion 25 mounted on theshaft 9 to wind up the spring, 10. Secured to the pinion 25 is a disk 26having a lug 27 which in the normal position of the mechanism is adaptedto abut against a pin or stop 28'carried by the front plate 1 and holdthe spring 10 under the desired degree of tension in the normal positionof the transmittingmecha- IllSl'IL' The disk 26 is of somewhat-largerdiameter than the pinion 25 and its outer annular surface servesas aguide to maintain the segment gear wheel 24 pressed against the arm 20,and thus hold the sleeve 19 and the pull lever 22 correctly positionedupon the stud shaft 18. H Surrounding the sleeve 1.9 is a coiled spring29, one end of which is anchored to the sleeve and the otherend of whichfits into a groove in a pin 30,

' projecting. from the front plate 1, which spring normally urges thepull lever 22 and arm 20 to their normal position in which the arm restsagainst the pin 30, as will be clear from Fig. 1.

The arm 20 carries at its upper end a pin 31 upon which a pawl or dog 32is pivotally mounted. The opening or hole 33 through which the pin 31passes is slightly elongated as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, whichpermits a slight bodily up and down movement of the pawl for a purposewhich will be hereinafter referred to. Surrounding the" pin is a coiledspring 34 one end of which fitsinto a slot in the end of the, pinfwhilethe other end is hooked around the tail of the pawl, which springcontinually urges the pawl to a position in which its tailjportion abutsa lug or stop 35 projecting from the arm 20, as is shown in Fig. 30fthe'drawing. The tail of the pawl, however, is provided with a camsurface 32 which is adapted to engage with a stop o-rpin-36 mounted onthe plate 1 which, when the pull lever-22 and arm 20.are in their normalpositions, will lift the tailportion of the pawl out of engagement withthe stop and throw the point of the pawl into the path of a shoulder 37formed on the segment gear 24. The pin 36 and cam surface 32 are soarranged that thepawl is only maintained with the point of the pawlinthepath of the shoulder 37 while these parts are in contact, which 00-curs only while the pull lever 22 is in its normal position and duringaslight'initial movementof the same in a direction to actuate the device.The shoulder 37 is so arranged on the segment gear 24'that when thesegment wheel is in its normal position this shoulder will .be adjacentthe point 'ofthe pawl, the purpose of which will be clear from theoperation.

The operation; of the mechanism is in part obviousfrom thedescription,but will be briefly described. Assuming that the parts are in theirnormal position as shown in 1Fig. 1, and it is desired to send in asigna in .a counterclockwise direction, and the point .of the pawl,since the shoulder is closely adjacent thereto, will engage with thesame before the cam surface 32 on the The pull lever or crank 22 isrotated 5 tail of the pawl moves out of engagement with the pin or stop36. Upon further rotation of the pull lever the pawl will carry thesegment gear 24 along with it to wind up the spring 10, since thefrictional engagement between the point of the pawl wheel 11 arepreferablyso spaced'that the winding of the, spring 10 a rotary distancecorresponding to the'sp'ace between the two teeth will,tliroughthe'gearing previously described, actuate the signal wheel through onerevolution, so that should the pull lever 22be pulled do'wnwardly'suflicient to permit two or three of the teeth to slip under the pawl12, as is generally the case,'upon rotation of the signal wheel duetothe unwinding of the springs, the signal will be repeated a pluralityof times at the central station. The parts are now in the position shownin F ig'. 3 and assuming that the pull lever has been released and hasreturned to its normal position and a second attempt is made to actuatethe mechanism by again pulling on this lever. As soon as the tail of thepawl is free of the stop 36, the coiled tension spring 34 will draw thetail of the pawl down against the stop 35 and since the shoulder 37 isno longer in a position to engage with the point of the pawl before thisoccurs, the pawl will be thrown to the position shown in Fig. 3 in whichthe point of the pawl is out of the path of the shoul-.- der 37, so thatit can not co-act therewith to further displace the segment gear andinterfere with the proper actuation of the signal train which continuesto rotate under the energy which it has received by the winding up ofthe spring 10. As the signal wheel continues to rotate, the segmentwheel will, through the pinion 25, be gradually returned to its normalposition, but until the contacts 4 have passed over the last notch ofthe signal wheel, the shoulder 37 is not in a position to engage withthe point of the pawl before the tail of the same clears the stop 36from which it will be clear that in order to actuate the signalmechanism the pull lever must be in its normal position and the segmentgear have returned toward its normal position, or to the position itassumes after the signal has been sent, which is preferably the normalposition of the same.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that if the pull lever should beheld down until after the segment gear has returned to its normalposition and then released, the cam surface 32 on the tail of the pawlwill engage with its stop 36 before the point of the pawl is clear ofthe shoulder 37, which parts would therefore constitute a lock andprevent the pull lever from resuming its normal position unless the pawlis permitted to move bodily upwardly a slight distance, for which reasonthe opening 33 in the slot is preferably made slightly elongated as hasbeen described.

While I have shown the shoulder 37 integral with the segment gear 24:,yet itis obvious that this is not essential since the pawl could co-actwithany rotary member which is connected to rotate synchronously withthe segment wheel 24:. The stop '36 which engages with the cam surface32 on the tail of the pawl may also, instead of ing evident that thesefeatures of construction are clearly within the purview of, thisinvention and are intended to come within the scope of the claimsappended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a signal transmitter, transmitting mechanism comprising a rotarymember which is adapted to be displaced in one direction to store upenergy to transmit the signal and to gradually resume its normalposition during the transmission of the signal, said member having ashoulder thereon, a revolubly mounted lever adapted to be actuated by apull lever, a pawl pivoted on said first named lever and having alimited bodily movement thereon, resilient means urging said pawl to onelimit of its bodily movement and the point of the pawl out of the pathof said shoulder, a relatively immovable member with which said pawl isadapted to engage in the normal position of the lever for throwing thepoint of said pawl into the path of said shoulder, said shoulder beingarranged to be initially engaged by said pawl only when in substantiallyits normal position, and said shoulder passing beneath said pawl uponthe return of the rotary member to its normal position and striking saidpawl after it has been en gaged by said relatively immovable member,whereby said pawl is momentarily bodily displaced, permitting the rotarymember to complete its return movement and thereafter the point of thepawl to be engaged by the shoulder.

2. In a signal transmitter, transmitting mechanlsm comprising a rotarymember which is adapted to be displaced in one direction to store upenergy to transmit the signal and to gradually resume its normalposition during the transmission of the signal, said member comprising asegment gear having a shoulder thereon adjacent one end of the segment,a revolubly mounted lever adapted to be actuated by a pull lever, a pawlpivoted on said first named lever and having a limited bodily movementthereon, resilient means urging said pawl to one limit of its bodilymovement and the point of the pawl out of the path of said shoulder, arelatively immovable member against which said pawl is adapted to engagein the normal position of the lever for throwing the point of said pawlinto the path of said shoulder, said shoulder being positioned upon saidsegment gear to be initially enher to complete its return movement and10,

gaged by-said pawl only when said gear is thereafter the point of thepawl to be ento itsnormal position after the pawl has in itssubstantially normal position, said gaged by the shoulder. shoulderpassing beneath and striking said In witness whereof, vI subscribe mysignapawl upon the return of the rotary member ture, inthe presence oftwo witnesses. i CHRISTIAN MILLER.- been engaged by said relativelyimmovable Witnesses: V 7. member, whereby said pawl is momentarily 5MEHHOFF, v bodily displaced, permitting the rotary mem- LOUIS H. SPIER.

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' Washington, D. 0.?

